


HeartTale

by Exsteria



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adult Frisk, Agender Frisk, Chara and Frisk are sibling, Dead Chara, Death, F/F, F/M, Human, M/M, Male Chara, Other, Platonic Love, Plot, Resets, Searching, Tags to be added, WIP, Work In Progress, asexual Frisk, no other aus, plot is slow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 10:37:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7841488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exsteria/pseuds/Exsteria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some people come to the mountain to mourn, but they come no further then the tree lining. They say there's a legend, a legend that grants whoever stumbles into the woods to disappear. It's not like Chara cared, it was their home away from everything. So it wasn't abnormal for Chara to be gone for hours at a time, nor was it hard for Frisk to believe that their parents would send Chara to a boarding school to teach him to better embrace society.  So, when ten years had passed without a word from their beloved sibling, Frisk began to ask questions about this very sudden absence.<br/>And so came the truth and why Frisk began to climb through the oasis of trees, where they eventually found themselves falling into a large hole into a place dubbed the Underground. In their desperate attempt to escape the tomb of dirt with the taste of dying hope, Frisk feels the the dying question begin to burn on their lips...</p>
<p>
  <i>How far will you go for the one you love?<i></i></i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	HeartTale

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter is currently unedited. (8/22/16)  
> Words: 2485

Frisk's feet had stumbled threw more thorn bushes than they bothered to count, leaving long scratches against their legs. It was uncomfortable and painful and very much noticeable, but they couldn't be bothered to stop. They were too focused, too desperate. Feelings of betrayal crept in the back of their throat, only voiced by the occasional grunts and wheezes they cast out. Why did their parents have to lie? And why did they believe them for so long?

Their sibling, one they loved with all their might and being, had been missing for years. Ten years to be exact. Frisk felt disgusted it took so long for them to begin to really question their siblings absents, especially since they were now an adult. There was always feelings of uncertainty and doubt when their parents said that Chara was "just at a boarding school" or, more recently, "working as a busy adult." Frisk attributed it to the mentions of letters their parents always said they got in the beginning, that Chara said he was having the time of their life. The tears that Frisk's parents shed just felt like normal parent things, that they missed him. In some ways, it didn't feel like a lie. Now Frisk knew better. 

Frisk was desperate for some reconciliation, so they went to the only place they thought Chara would have went. On top of Mnt. Ebott, somewhere among the trees where he could hide away, that's where he'd be. Away from Frisk, away from parents, away from everything: it was his favorite spot. And so Frisk went, their parents calling after them, “Francine, Carter is long gone!”

The forest started to thin out as they traveled upwards into the mountain. Frisk wasn't irrational: they knew Chara was dead, but his body had to be out there. Despite the burning in their throat and the trail of fresh tears burning at the edge of their eyes, they knew that the only thing that would make them feel better would be to find something left of Chara. Ten years does a lot, so they were fine with bones.

Walking for an hour more, their eyes trained, Frisk managed to walk through a debris pile, resulting in a sharp rock ripping up the side of their shoe, the material left frayed. They responded to it with a sigh, kicking up a rock in desolate thought.

Another hour came at snail pace with no sign of anything, just trees and some low hanging shrubbery. Everything started to look the same, so Frisk became lost in their thoughts.

Yet another hour passed as Frisk felt themselves become entranced with the scenery, wandering from the straight path they had tried to make for themselves. It was ten minutes before they realized and stopped themselves. It was almost as if they walked in a circle, nothing was any different from where they broke path. It looked absolutely no different. Frisk felt their heart pound, but attempted to calm themselves the best they could. Their legs, noodles, sunk to the ground as Frisk desperately went to their backpack to pull out one of the water bottles, drinking it all in one go. They were about to go for another, but opted for a granola bar instead.

And so they sat with their knees pressed against their chest. Their head ran rampant with thoughts, most of which the rational adult side and the other the child that wanted desperately for their big brother to return home. Frisk knew better, yet they were still on the mountain with no desire to leave. Anxious thoughts still enveloped them in a hold like no other.

“If a police force couldn't find them,” Frisk thought with a whimper, “What made me think I could? It's been ten years.”

A little voice in the back of their head whispered, “They could still be out there.”

“Chara didn't have the ability to survive on their own in a forest. He was only thirteen.”

“He could be cold and alone-”

“Who's to say something didn't eat them. Who's to say it won't come for you?”

“He could be in danger-”

“You should go home. Go home to mom and dad. You have exams coming up. Don't ruin your future over a piece of your past.”

“Chara needs you!”

With that, Frisk covered their face and sobbed. They could imagine Chara sitting on the mountain, his frail body unmoving as he slowly wasted away from lack of food and water. They could imagine the way Chara would look up to the sky from under a tree as their hide away slowly entrapped them with no possible chance of help. Hands twitching, Frisk could imagine the loneliness Chara most have felt.

When the sob rolled into sniffles and heavy breaths, Frisk began to stand up, only to feel a weird cloth-like material underneath their hands. The quickly retreated their hand as they inspected what they had touched. It was a shoe. The material was caked in mud with pine needles covering the laces. With shaking hands, they dislodged the front of the shoe and reached for the tongue of the shoe, pulling it back to reveal the writing they remembered with heart wrenching fondness, “Chara.”

They way the shoe was lodged into the log, Frisk was able to deduce that Chara might have been running up this way and possibly lost their shoe as they tripped over the log. With knew found determination, Frisk began to follow that lead, leaving the shoe on top of the log as a marker. The air was beginning to grow thinner as they climbed onward. They had to find him. Even if it was some bones in the dirt.

***

Night began to set in, allowing the hush chill to crawl up Frisk's legs. There shorts didn't do much to protect them from the cold, nor did the scratches allow themselves to feel alleviated by the coldness. Frisk sighed, at least they had their turtleneck.

Chara, if they could see them know, would laugh at them for their fashion statement that they've never changed. Frisk mused that Chara would tell them to try something edgy or something, that only babies wear sweaters all the time. Alas, Frisk felt much warmer and safer when wrapped in the embrace of string. The fabric that folded around their neck, albeit itchy, was like their safe guard from the world. Frisk could needed more fingers on their hands to count all the times they used it to avoid having to socialize during her research when other people in the science major would come around. Like a turtle retreating into a shell, Frisk would retreat into their head to dig deep into the expanse of their mind.

However, Frisk knew that it couldn't be so much more helpful in a situation like this. They had ran from the path hours ago and, as a result, no longer knew if going down would lead to the highway or deeper into the forest just north of the mountain from where they entered. The wilderness had covered any possible evidence left behind of Chara, but it didn't stop them. If push came to shove... well, Frisk would figure it out when it came to that.

Frisk felt the desperate need to sit down. So they did, on the dirt ground that hadn't probably seen a human in, possibly, a decade. Reaching around, they pulled their backpack from their back and shoveled inside it. Pulling out a first aid kit, Frisk began to peel apart the large band-aids from its wrapping and placed it over the majority of the scratches. They hadn't thought to earlier with the fog that cluttered their head, but the mountain air seemed to refresh them.

The setting night, however, began to swelter fear in their belly, so they knew they had to find some kind of cover. They couldn't possibly wander until day break or until some wild animal found them. It wasn't like they had anything to see in the dark. Their cell-phone had fallen into disarray a month ago and they had their flashlights in an old box at their parent's house. Even if they managed to grab one, there was no saying if it worked. Batteries aren't meant to last forever, after all.

Even so, Frisk felt the desire to have some kind of light, some kind of way to know where they were going. Frisk wasn't afraid to admit that the dark scared them because anything could hide in the dark. In the woods and on a desolate mountain, this fear was omnipresent: the way the bushes rustled when a breeze rustled the leaves or the way a far off owl would let out a coo. However, Frisk noted the lack of sound scared them the most.

Frisk put the box away and, as they touched the bottom of the bag, felt their hand go across something metal and smooth with glass on one side. They pulled it out, not recalling ever placing something like that in their bag. Something like that had the likelihood of being broken. Especially with how reckless they had been out here.

They felt a breath catch in their throat and their heart raise. It was a compass. One they must have accidentally grabbed from one of their environmental classes during a class activity. They quickly tried to readjust it, holding it like an new born infant in their hands. The needle moved on top of a picture of a compass rose, but unsteadily. From what they remembered, they tried to lay the compass as flat on their hand as they could. The needle then began to fidget, spinning one way and then the other way. Frisk knew there was a small metal clasp on their bag, but it shouldn't have interfered with the magnet this much. With dread, they began to realize that it might have been one of the broken ones that were littered on her table when she was gathering her stuff. Trying once more, with a little less zeal, they came to the conclusion it wasn't working in any sense of the word. It merely spun without warning, froze, tittered, before continuing the pattern once more.

With a disappointed sigh, Frisk dropped the compass into one of the compartments on the front of their bag. Despite their anger towards the object, it couldn't be helped it was broken and, if they got back home, they should drop it off in one piece so it could possibly get fixed. More so, breaking it would only succeed in leaving parts of it to rust in the nature which wasn't fair to the animals that lived there. It wasn't their fault either.

If anyone's fault, it would be Frisk's. Running off into the forest so ill-equipped only served to allow them suffer more. Frisk bent their head into their knees for a moment, before getting up. Sighing, Frisk was fully aware why Chara would come here. It was his thinking spot, but, also, it served his only wish. He hated other humans. It even seemed sometimes that he hated Frisk too. That's why he would come to the forest that was shrouded in rumors and fear, the place that people always said would trap whoever entered and never let them leave. Morosely, Frisk began to come to the conclusion that that might have been what Chara wanted all along. Life wasn't perfect

Then, Frisk wondered why they, themselves, went here of all places without someone to help them. They could blame it on the frantic emotions. They could blame it on the desperate love for their sibling. They could blame it on the fact they didn't actually have anyone who would help them. They could blame it on anything, but, the farther Frisk wandered, they questioned if them coming to the forest was actually to accomplish the same thing that Chara might have wanted so long ago.

Frisk felt swarmed by the news now-a-days, the threats of attack to those who didn't fit the normal and the possibility of war breaking out ever so constantly. It was terrifying, but it wasn't the only struggle Frisk faced. People constantly looked at them with disgust, disregarding Frisk's desires to suit their own. You'd think that people would understand that people know their gender better than a stranger and you'd think your family would understand that too. Yet, Frisk's family didn't accept it either. Frisk just thought that's how they had to live, that that would be the only way they would make it in a world so cold. As long as they could see Chara again, it wouldn't matter... even if it was only in death. It was fate, probably.

Fate's a funny thing though. A real practical jokester, playing on people's hopes and desires, only to rip them apart in the end. At least death was honest, Frisk mused bitterly. Their heart seem to lax at the thought. They didn't really care much anymore.

There was a clearing up ahead with a flattened dirt path leading to it. Frisk feet enjoyed the more smoothed ground, but still ached to rest. However, Frisk didn't allow them that wish. They had to keep going, they had to find shelter. It was what was expected of them and what they should do in this situation, after all.

The clearing had flowers growing with a only a few trees scattered on the edge. How the trees seem to neglect this prime picking of land seemed odd, but Frisk didn't really care. They were just doing what they do, just as Frisk was, without any real thought.

There was a large hole in the middle of the opening, of which they felt drawn. Flowers were scattered at the edge of the hole and, upon closer inspection, they appeared to be buttercups. Whether or not these flowers could grow at this altitude was a mystery for another time, however. Wary of the hole, they used careful footing to grab a flower, pulling it from its roots. They figured it could be a good luck, so they wrapped the flowers stem around their finger, turning it into one of those flower rings Chara used to make. They were never to good at flower crowns though, Frisk could never manage a full one and, after Chara left, they never found a good enough reason to. So they let that old past time die along with flowers they had picked.

Frisk began to get up, however their legs were strained. As Frisk tried to stand, their leg that held them sturdy from falling into the hole began to quake, shaking their body profusely. In a desperate attempt to steady themselves, Frisk grabbed at the flowers, veering their body so abruptly that their feet began to stubble on the pebbles below them. The flowers weren't strong enough to hold them, so Frisk felt their body begin to fall.

 

**They missed Chara.**

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I made this story as a challenge to myself to actually finish a story at a productive rate. That, and I love fanfics and Undertale is such a prime opportunity for some philosophical work! So, due to such, I will be updating this story every 1-2 week(s), usually on Sundays or Saturdays. I hope it'll be more structured later on, but life has a way of messing with things. :-) Anyways, this story will be either 20 chapters in length or 30. It really depends, since I only have the rough outline for this story right now. However, as soon as I know for sure, I will be sure to state it! Okay, since this is a fanfic, it won't be detailed in every little event of the game, nor will it reflect the event in the game exactly!
> 
> Also,to confirm something: Chara and Frisk are siblings in this story! It's a pretty big part of this story, so prepare for that platonic love! 
> 
> Oh! One more thing: feel free to correct my grammar and spelling! I make mistakes all the time, I'm only human! :-)


End file.
